Dominican Border Patrol Repatriates Undocumented Haitians

The head of the Dominican Republic's new border patrol says his force has repatriated several thousand undocumented Haitians since operations began last week.

General Adriano Silverio Rodriguez told local media that 3,600 undocumented migrants were repatriated in the past few days. He said immigrants were put on buses headed back to Haiti.

Last Tuesday, Silverio told the Diario Libre newspaper that his force is taking a "zero tolerance" approach. He claimed four-thousand undocumented migrants were repatriated during the previous 72 hours of operations in Dajabon and Jimani.

The Dominican Border Corp (Cesfront) took over border patrol duties from the army in late September.

Amnesty International has accused Dominican authorities of arbitrarily deporting up to 30,000 Haitian migrants from the country every year. The London-based human rights group has reported that migrants fleeing poverty in Haiti occupy the lowest rung of the Dominican social ladder.

Haiti is the Western Hemisphere's poorest country and has been plagued with violence.